The lead single from my new album as The Silent Committee, City of Reflections, is available as a FREE download NOW!
https://thesilentcommittee.bandcamp.com/album/city-of-reflections
The download includes an extra non-album track.
Also, if you didn’t see it already there is a video that accompanies the song, here or here.
The new album is entitled ‘One Day The Sadness Will End, But I Don’t Think Today Is The Day…’ and is due to be released on October 27th exclusively through the projects BandCamp.
See above the video for the lead single ‘City of Reflections’.
The single will be available to download for free on Friday October 6th and includes an extra non-album track!
The album will do all the usual TSC stuff – instruments played, sampled, broken and oddly arranged in a minimal, ambient fashion. It’s been a stop start few years in the making, but overall I’m happy with the result.
Subscribe to the blog here and/or follow @ 4DRecordings on instagram for more news on the album release as it happens.
Much love.
CFx
This was the look back in 2014.
Post Enki, pre-Violet’s Gone.
I’d donned Buddy Holly specs for those few gigs too.
There were only three more solo shows (performed as Violet’s Gone) between this photo and today.
Photo credit, Thomas Nightingale (TEN Photography)
Venue; The Lab, Northampton
So, my distributor has decided they will no longer host my music on their streaming services. Their loss.
I don’t want to go too much into it (I don’t understand it), but I do have one request of my listeners and that is; if you want to hear my music, please visit the bandcamp pages below. My music will soon fall off of all other streaming sites anyway, but in the meantime plays of my music on those sites will pay other people money and not me…
The ‘[4D] Recordings’ label plan was all worth a try to attempt a unifying my projects and opening up an audience, but this event has absolutely killed my enthusiasm and momentum (again). It has been a massive personal set back. My confidence doesn’t take much to knock and this event has made me (again) question why I’m doing what I’m doing.
If you set your heart on a project, go for it, and it goes wrong – that’s one thing. That’s just life. If you go after a project because you simply think you ‘should’ be doing it or don’t know what else to do, because this is what you always used to do and it used to once bring joy…and yet now it brings you no real joy in doing it… you’ve got to question ‘why do it at all’?
I made two new albums this year and set about revisiting some old favourites from my back catalogue. The revisits and the making something new, were kinda fun. The distribution, the promotion and the ultimate rejection that has always inevitably followed, was not fun. I won’t be pursuing sales and streams any more, for sure.
If making stays fun, that will carry on, but…this concerted effort to release and provide constant content won’t be continuing. Some of my favourite bands take decades to release something new, and I will wait for them.
The next album from me was set for an October 27th release (surprise!), and that is still going to happen. The only difference being that I have to now release it myself, and it will only be available on channels I control (listed below). There will be some posts about it all in proper soon.
With that in mind…It is back to the original setup! Make an album and send it out to die alone on the internet.
My music exists on bandcamp only from now on! (It was always the superior and most supportive website anyway.)
New videos on Vimeo and YouTube.
New news stories and occasional archival material on the blog. (that’s this site!)
New pictures and stories on Instagram.
I’m sorry if this was a sad read, but I am feeling quite despondent about it at present. I think I want to make music and I think I want to still share it. In the weeklyep podcast that accompanied my Maybrain record, I stated that music should be made just to make yourself happy, and that if anyone else picks it up and likes it, that’s a happier bonus.
If you’re reading this and are a supporter of what I do, then you have my utmost thanks and appreciation for being there.
Much love
CFx
Folk and blues in the afternoon.
I really miss The Fishmarket art gallery in Northampton. It was an incredible creative space with a thriving community of creatives, exhibition pieces, small shops etc. My little involvement was in taking over the hosting of Folk/Blues in the afternoon on Sundays throughout 2011.
The cafe inside the gallery The Nook was a cool hangout and was our venue. A small purpose built stage that could comfortably fit a full band and yet manage to not look empty with a solo performer. As well as organising the event, I photographed many of the acts playing and recorded the soundboard audio a handful of their live sets too for them to use on their respective facebook/myspace/youtube channels (free of charge, cause I’m a nice guy.) I also drank ridiculous quantities of tea.
We hosted some great performers including Kings Gambit, Gregg Cave, Joe B. Humbled, Kismet Hardy, The Rogue State Circus, Aisha Daisy, Jimtom Say?, Enki, Jonny Tudor, Rozism, Stevie Jones, The Abrahams, Debbie Frayling, Corrine Lucy. Many others, I can’t list them all.
We looked set to continue with the program but sadly the Northampton county council had other plans and announced the demolition of the art gallery in place of a not-fit-for-purpose bus station (that 12 years later, still doesn’t do the job!)
Took A Walk
This song was a real slog to make. It’s lyrics are a little cliche, for sure. The tune is simple. The repetitive refrain of ‘time to save’ was sung in four part harmony without looping or pitch correcting – I sang every single one!
It wasn’t a happy time but the song, I think, kind of pulled me through.
The EP still exists on BFW Recordings website as a free download, and the music video still resides on YouTube and below. I do intend to soon either remaster or completely re-record the song with my improved recording abilities and will probably put it online sometime on or around October 10th.
For now though, ‘enjoy’ the original in all it’s awkward and difficult glory!
Feel free to explore the discography and links pages at the top of the website to listen to sounds from each of the current projects released out into the world.
The Silent Committee is an instrumental project that revolves around manipulation of acoustic and electric instruments. The songs produced are typically minimalist and ambient in nature and as time has gone on have become more complex. It started life as experimentation with 4-track cassette demos and grew into full studio production and even live performance. To date there are three full length albums and a number of EPs, singles and soundtracks under the name.
Violet’s Gone is the more typical singer songrwiter sound and quite far removed from the instrumental projects. Chris Fordham started his musical exploration as a rhythm guitarist and a bassist in pub bands, lurking around open mic nights. Having learnt a decent roster of cover songs he set out to write his own songs inspired by the artists he listened too in his teen years and beyond. Expect songs based around piano and guitar in the main; some experimental leanings, but a lot of these you can sing along with. This project is two albums and one EP in, so far.
[Pyxis]
Starting out in 2023 after a short break from releasing new music in earnest, [Pyxis] is a new project that sought to shake things up for Chris and get him making tunes again. Gone are complicated rhythm and time signature swaps, in are electronic sounds with drone backing, ambiance, noise and drum loops. Something new and we hope you enjoy. The debut album from this project lands in July 2023.
Finally, there is the music released just under the musicians real name. This is where it all started back in 2004…he’s tried my best to remove traces of the real early stuff from the face of the Earth but some of it still stands up. Chris was associated with a netlabel in the 2010’s called BFW Recordings (sadly no longer active) and produced some songs that still stand up as some of his best; even when the recording techniques afforded were minimal. At some point in the near future we will collate and remix/master the recordings of this era to give them a new lease of life. Aside from those projects there are a selection of classical songs scored for quartet or bigger that NEED recording properly and will hopefully one day, happen.
Other Projects
Chris has appeared in a number of bands and recording projects over the years. Most notably are his long term involvement in Northampton bands Enki and The Snakeman 3. Both approached different brands of psychadelic and garage rock very different to his own solo projects and definitely shaped his musical outlook. Chris was also a member of the touring band for To Bury A Ghost in promotion of the EP The Hurt Kingdom and still maintains contact, a listening ear and occasional instrument to Jons new projects. Check out the bio page at the top menu to see an extensive list of all Chris’s other project appearances, live and studio.
Chris Fordham Music 